


Lucky

by AmmoLovesJyron



Series: When the Rescuer Needs Rescuing [2]
Category: Bondi Rescue (TV)
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/ Comfort, Gen, Men Crying, Patient death, Reidy pep talks Harrison after his first patient death, Tears???, Traumatic Experience, Yo just read it and it'll make sense I promise, trigger warning for talking of drowning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 05:03:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17461118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmmoLovesJyron/pseuds/AmmoLovesJyron
Summary: The first time Harrison has to deal with a resus, and when it doesn't go to plan Hoppo puts him to work in order to distract him. This leads to a big chat with Reidy, about Reidy's first patient death. Revelations are made, and a mutual understanding between two men is found.





	Lucky

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ THE END NOTE! It would help me a lot :)  
> Does this count as the rescuer needing rescuing?? I need to figure that out oops.  
> \--------------------  
> CHARACTERS:  
> Trent Maxwell- Maxi  
> Bruce Hopkins- Hoppo  
> Andrew Reid- Reidy  
> Harrison Reid- Hutz, Hutzy, Harrison etc.

**RATED MATURE AS THERE IS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT DROWNING. I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO READ THIS WHO MAY FEEL TRIGGERED.**

**\--------------------------------------------**

The adrenaline wore off, and Harrison buried his head into his arms up in the tower. Out of nowhere Hoppo appeared, grabbing Harrison by the shoulder.

“You okay mate?”

“Mm… yeah, yeah I’m good.”

“You can take the rest of today off if you want, that was terrifying.”

Harrison shook his head, sitting upright.

“Nah, it just… I’m tired, but I can finish.”

“If you’re sure.”

Hoppo seemed unconvinced, but Harrison just picked up a pair of binoculars to study the water. Everyone noticed he avoided the south end, where Kurt had suffered his heart attack. Hoppo nudged Reidy, gesturing to the door. Reidy stood and followed, the door slamming shut behind them as they stepped outside.

 

“Everything okay, boss?”

“Yes and no. Reidy, can you keep an eye on the south end? Harrison just needs some time out, so I’ll keep him busy doing other stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Paperwork… cleaning the change rooms… the med cabinet could do with some reorganising.”

“That’ll take him literally a couple hours!”

“It’ll distract him, which is what we want. Reidy, I’m counting on you here. He’s just a kid and he’s scarred, we need to keep his mind busy.”

“If you’re sure, Boss. I can do that.”

“Thanks mate.”

Hoppo clasped on Reidy’s shoulder, sending him a smile before disappearing into the tower. He reappeared moments later with Harrison in tow, both waving at Reidy before heading for Hoppo’s office. Reidy shook his head, trying to push the old memories away. He didn’t need that right now.

 

“You wanted me Hoppo?”

“Yeah, sit Harrison.”

Harrison did as asked, Hoppo picking up a pen.

“I know you said you were okay, but I wanted to talk to you personally; how are you feeling after this morning?”

Harrison bristled, and then hesitated.

“Hoppo, I- to be honest with you mate, I’ve been trying to keep busy… it helps me not think about it, ya know? If I don’t think about it, maybe it didn’t happen. Maybe I didn’t drag a dead person from the water.”

Harrison’s eyes misted, and Hoppo hummed.

“You have two options, Harrison. I’m completely fine if you take the rest of today off to rest and recoup, and pick up another shift somewhere else when you feel a little better, or you can get to work for the rest of today and go straight to bed when you go home.”

Harrison furrowed his brows, before he shook his head.

“Put me to work, Hoppo. I need it.”

Hoppo’s eyes twinkled. He had a plan.

“Well, Harrison, the past few days I’ve been making a list of things that need to be done… try to get a few of these done today.”

He handed over the piece of paper and Harrison skimmed over it, before his eyes met Hoppo’s.

“Done.”

Harrison stood to exit the office, when Hoppo called after him.

“Oh, and Harrison?”

“Yeah boss?”

“Your job is on the line here. Don’t mess up.”

Even though in the back of his head he knew Hoppo wouldn’t fire him after this incident, he still nodded and rushed off to make a start.

 

Sitting in the medical area taking inventory, Harrison had time to reflect over what he’d seen that morning. It was something that would stick with him for a long time, possibly even forever. Seeing a dead body for the first time was something no lifeguard manual could ever prepare you for; Harrison had gone straight to that piece of shit the second he got back to the tower after the event and had searched for a good twenty minutes for anything on dealing with patient deaths, but there was nothing. Not even a help line to call.

Sitting in that med bay, he felt tired and emotional and alone.

_Finish the job. Hoppo wants you to._

_Your health comes first. Go get someone. Go home._

_The job?!_

_Reidy’s just around the corner. You don’t have to talk about it, but just talk to him._

That did it, and Harrison abandoned his clipboard in search of his friend.

 

Reidy was on patrol when Harrison plopped down in the seat beside him. The more senior lifeguard smiled, and put his binoculars down to look at Harrison. There was a joke in the making rippling, but the second he saw Harrison it froze in the back of his throat.

“Aw, mate…”

“How do you deal with it? Y’know, afterwards?”

Harrison’s eyes were wide and tinted with unknown innocence. Reidy sighed and grabbed his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

“The truth is Hutz, is that it never gets easier. Every new body we find feels like the first.”

He winced, realising he should have been easier on the kid, when Harrison spoke again.

“Did you cry? At your first?”

Reidy frowned, trying to think. It had been a while ago, and if he was honest he’d locked those memories away. He liked to be an upbeat, funny guy who didn’t really have many issues, so dealing with preventable death was something that he kept hidden from others, including his colleagues who had often been there at the same time.

“Reidy?”

Reidy cleared his throat, sighing.

“Yeah, I think I did. It was hard, we- she was not in a good way when I brought her to the beach…”

“Did you resus?” Harrison asked, and then shied away.

“Shit, sorry. You probably don’t want to be interrogated.”

“Nah, it’s okay. Surprisingly, it makes me feel a little better to talk about it.”

Reidy scooted his chair closer, giving Harrison’s knee an affectionate squeeze.

“C’mon kid, let’s go do that med inventory and I’ll tell you about it.”

 

Rolling bandages and ticking things off the list left Reidy and Harrison quiet for a little while, working independently and barely looking at each other, before Reidy heaved a deep sigh.

“Harrison, the first death I was ever called out to was my girlfriend’s. She had been going out for a surf or something, they think, and she must have hit her head on a rock nearby. God, I have no idea how she could have hurt herself, she grew up in this water, at this beach, so it was a shock for me when I recognised her in the water.”

Harrison stayed quiet, his pen frozen as he listened to Reidy’s story. The air around them was suddenly heavy with emotion, and Reidy put down the stack of bandaids he was holding.

“So I brought her in on my board… we get to the shore, and she’s not really breathing. Her chest was moving, if I put my palm close to her mouth I could feel it, but her pulse was really weak. It was something I’d never experienced, and as the others began to work on her I just…”

He sniffed, and Harrison watched on with wide eyes. He’d never seen Reidy so much as have a bad day, let alone be close to tears.

“Fuck, she just- she let go, Hutz. I was sitting behind everyone and I could feel her slipping away from me. This girl, this person I loved, was slipping away from me and I did nothing.”

He sat on the blue stretcher bed beside Harrison, who shifted so Reidy had some room. Reidy put his hand on Harrison’s shoulder, heaving a big sigh before ruffling his hair.

“I loved her with everything I had, so when she died, it felt like a piece of me died too. It was probably the worst thing I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve seen a lot of shitty things.”

He turned to face Harrison now, making him look into his eyes.

“Anyway; what I’m trying to say, mate, is that if you feel like you’re starting to think about it, go home- be with Maxi, call your family. Don’t try to push through it, because it’ll get you, when you least expect it. You’re a smart kid Harrison; I think you get a lot of things many people wouldn’t understand at your age.”

Harrison nodded, glancing at his lap for a moment. Then he looked up to meet Reidy’s eyes.

“Thanks. For… y’know. You could’ve just told me to toughen up.”

“Nah; we’re mates, you and me. It… it feels good to talk about her. I miss her, but I’m okay. I’m going to be okay without her.”

“You should talk about her more often. It’s pretty obvious what happened shook you up.”

“Yeah, it did. More than I could have ever imagined. But I love my job and I love the water, so I’m not about to stop coming. By preventing deaths, I almost feel like I’m doing what she would have wanted me to do.”

Reidy bumped Harrison’s shoulder, giving him a smile.

“Go home kid, have a nap and a shower. Don’t come back until you’re ready.”

“What about Hoppo-“

“-I’ll handle Hoppo. Go.”

The older of the pair waved the younger out of the tower to the changerooms so he could collect his things, smiling when Harrison took off at a jog. That kid had so much energy, so much presence in a room despite his pretty quiet personality, and he was eager to do what pleased people. He was still a kid as much as he didn’t like to think he was, so it was up to more senior lifeguards like Reidy, Hoppo and even Maxi to make sure he was doing okay.

  

Speaking of Maxi, he heard the front door open from where he was on the couch and glanced at the clock on the wall- it was only two in the afternoon, who would be coming in? Who had a key?

Deano. It had to be Deano.

“Deano, mate is that you?”

“Nah mate. Hey.”

Maxi nearly shit himself when he saw Harrison come around the corner, his eyes falling when he took in his roommate’s eyes. They were filled with tears, and Maxi stood.

“What-“

“-I, uhm, I… someone died today.”

Maxi’s mouth formed an ‘O’ shape, and he nodded.

“You doing okay?”

_Yes_

It was on the tip of Harrison’s tongue, his automatic answer, but as he blinked back tears he shook his head.

“No, Maxi. I’m not okay and I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh shit, mate. Hey, it’s okay. C’mere.”

Maxi rushed over, grabbing Harrison by the shoulder. He pulled his friend into a hug and Harrison accepted it, hugging tightly.

“I tried to stop it, Max, but I didn’t get there in time. If I’d been more alert, maybe I could have stopped it, maybe there was something I could have done better-“

“-hey, hey Hutz. None of that. It’s not your fault, you tried your best and that’s all anyone could ever ask for.”

“How do you know?” Harrison replied, but his voice was muffled through Maxi’s shirt. Maxi ruffled his hair, pulling away.

“Because over the last year I’ve come to learn a lot about you, and while you’re one weird son of a bitch, you’re also someone who never half-asses anything. I saw those nights you agreed to stay back with the senior lifeguards, I see that extra training. You put your all into everything you do, so don’t ever feel that you didn’t do enough.”

Harrison sniffed, a tear falling before he nodded.

“Thanks, Maxi. You- how did you know? What to say? Are you psychic?”

“Oh, something like that.”

**(Hint: he’s been listening to Hoppo, Kerrbox and others over the years, combined with his own observations of Harrison and BAM)**

Harrison chuckled, gesturing to the couch.

“Mind if I…?”

“Go for it.”

Maxi stood aside and Harrison flopped on to the comfortable leather, his eyes closing.

“Holy shit, I forgot how nice this was.”

“You never sit down long enough to appreciate it,” Maxi snorted. Harrison glanced up, before a smile crossed his face.

“You’re probably right, but here I am, appreciating our comfortable couch.”

Maxi laughed, flopping down into the armchair beside the couch. He turned up the cricket and noticed how Harrison immediately tuned into it.

 

Harrison was one hell of a kid, and the three years between them felt like nothing compared to the two between Maxi and Taco when he was working with the lifeguards.

Okay, and maybe Taco was kind of painful but Maxi knew he must have been painful at the start too.

 

A week later the two boys walked into the tower together, Harrison’s first time since he had been at the death of a beach goer. The lifeguards in the tower saw him and immediately called out, Harries standing to clap while Kerrbox leaned over the edge, shaking Harrison’s hand.

“Good to have you back mate. You’re looking good.”

“Thanks Box.”

Harrison smiled before heading up the stairs. At the desk sat Reidy, who just smiled at him. He nodded, and Harrison nodded back. What had been said between them was a secret no one else had to know about- Reidy’s secret would stay a secret for as long as he wanted, Harrison wasn’t going to blurt it. Likewise, Reidy wasn’t going to go around speaking of how helpless Harrison had felt when he tried to revive that poor man only two days prior. The two had a mutual respect for each other after their discussions, they knew each other a little better than they had before and it was something that’d stay between them.

“Oi, Hutzy!”

Harrison jumped at the booming voice before he turned to see Hoppo was standing at the door, a proud smile on his face.

“Thanks for showing up, finally.”

Harrison blushed, went to apologise, when he saw the twinkle in Hoppo’s eye. He was only taking the piss.

“Yeah mate, thought I’d better have a couple days off from the bed. Women can't get enough of a young lifeguard.”

Everyone in the tower burst out laughing, and Harrison felt his whole body relax. Yes, he’d dealt with a death on Bondi. Yes, it had been traumatic. Yes he would probably never forget what he had seen that day.

But he had people to talk to, people who understood what he was feeling.

 

It hit Harrison just then how damn lucky he was.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, I forgot!  
> The deaths in this chapter I talked about are NON EXISTENT. Yes, people have died on Bondi Beach, but I have no way of telling an accurate story. I made up Reidy's story, and Harrison's, so please don't like... report me or something. Idk.  
> Tell me if you want me to write Reidy's story in a second chapter!  
> Instagram: AmmoHemmo  
> Twitter: AmmoHemmo  
> Snapchat: AmmoHemmo13  
> Wattpad: AmmoHemmo/ AmmoDoesYT


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